This may well be one of the most perverted love stories
ever. Han-ki is the local tough guy in a red light district and as he one day
sees Son-hwa, a collage student, look at him and smile, he has to have her.
Kissing her, she returns his kiss with slapping him. To make her pay, he lures
her into a situation where she has to sign a letter of debt, by which she then
is forced into prostitution.

The character of Han-ki is a simple as they come. He does two things, he
either sits and watches or he hits someone. He never speaks. At the end, Kim
reveals to us why Han-ki never speaks. Having a high pitch (almost mouse like)
squeaking voice would doubtless make him the target for ridicule and that is
the one thing you cannot afford in this part of town. So in order to survive,
Han-ki never speaks and just hits anyone in sight. The repression of shame is
one of the many aspects of Kim’s auteurism, all noting towards guilt.

While the story raised some logical questions, for instance has the parents
contacted the police about the disappearance of their daughter?, the sheer
force of the story makes us ignore such lapses. The story is so perverted and
so strong, that we have to keep looking. Equally critical is the notion, that
Son-hwa becomes accustomed to being a prostitute, which made feminists attack
the film as misogynistic. And one has to acknowledge these critics, as they
have become part of Kim’s auteurism. When you openly create political
incorrect images, when you openly seek to provoke and attack conventions, the
critic against you becomes part of the oeuvre.

Compared to the rest of Kim’s films, “Bad Guy” stands out as one of his best,
and approaching him by auteurism by the motif of guilt and shame, it may well
be the key work, as the characters emotions are so singular and the setting
almost is mythical. By normal approach, “Bad Guy” is a perverted
uncompromising love story, with an inner of intense beauty and love. Films
like this are rare and must be treasured.

This is more or less a R2
version of the Korean R3 "Special Edition", missing a few of the extras,
like staff interviews, but having a DTS track added. Given that few Korean
DVDs have English subtitles on their native audio commentaries, this may
well be the, for the moment, definitive version of "Bad Guy".

Note: The title image is simply one of the first images, as there is no
"title" as such.